


curre ad astra

by lacksley



Series: sportsfest '19 fills [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy, 風が強く吹いている | Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru | Run with the Wind (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Car Chases, Fantasy Action, Gen, Mass Effect AU, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26370379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacksley/pseuds/lacksley
Summary: “Can you trust him?” Akihiro flicks the ash from his cigarette and takes a long pull. “You just met him a few hours ago.”“I don’t really have a choice,” Haiji says, leaning heavily against the railing, taking the weight off his leg. “I need as many people as I can, as fast as I can get them.”A Mass Effect AU.
Relationships: Hirata "Nico-chan" Akihiro & Kiyose Haiji, Pre Kiyose Haiji/Kurahara Kakeru
Series: sportsfest '19 fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916332
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	curre ad astra

**Author's Note:**

  * For [affectionateTea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/affectionateTea/gifts).



> I could have kept writing this FOREVER but I'd probably be the only one that would want to read 30k of this AU. Basically Haiji=Shepard, Tazaki=Anderson. Haiji was trying to be an N7 but got his leg injury partway through the N6 training and... quit... idk
> 
> I was thinking Musa would be a junior engineer, the twins would be fresh out of basic, Yuki would be the XO, King would be the helmsman, Shindou the ship doctor?? And for Ouji, well... I'm sure he'd earn his keep somehow. Maybe they pick him up as a refugee or something. I obviously put WAY TOO MUCH thought into this but. It was fun. c:
> 
> Original prompt and post can be found [here](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/22368.html?thread=2878304#cmt2878304). Written for SportsFest19.

_2182_

Kurahara Kakeru is kicked out of BAaT and off Jump Zero almost exactly one year after he arrives. He’s seventeen, and he’s forced onto the transport headed for the Citadel with bruised knuckles and a split lip because he beat one of the instructors, unprovoked, within an inch of the man’s life.

Kakeru doesn’t regret what he did, even though his record is permanently marked. He’ll never get into the Alliance, his commendations have been revoked, and he’s being sent to a juvenile detention center.

He breaks through his mag-cuffs the second they land and throws himself off the docking bay, slowing his plummet into the depths of Zakera Ward with his biotics. BAaT leaves him alone after that.

_2183_

“Commander.”

There’s a _clink_ of a glass being set next to him, and Haiji pulls his eyes away from the reports on his omni-tool. Akihiro sits down at the bar next to him, looking uncomfortable in his dress uniform that’s maybe a _little_ too snug. Haiji knows it hasn’t been worn in a while.

“Engineer,” he responds, and waves at the bartender for a refill. He’d barely taken a sip.

“I heard Captain Tazaki was taking a vacation and leaving you to, uh… _house-sit._ ” Akihiro swallows back his drink, eyes shifting around the bar for characters more suspicious than asari dancers and their enraptured patrons.

Haiji gives him a stiff smile. “He did. That’s why I wanted to speak with you, I can’t quite handle it on my own.”

Akihiro regards him cooly, and Haiji adds, “It’s a big house.”

“Is that so? I might be able to help, if I can take a look.” Akihiro finishes his drink and grabs Haiji’s, freshly topped off, and finishes that as well.

“Wanna go see? I’m parked nearby.” With a grim nod, Akihiro follows Haiji out of the Darkstar Lounge.

They aren’t quite able to drive out to the docks, because as they wind their way through the streets to the hidden landing pad, some idiot is hot-wiring Haiji’s car, and takes off with a start at the sound of their shouts.

“Bastard,” Akihiro wheezes, doubling forward to catch his breath. Haiji leans out over the skyway, watching his car disappear into the distance. A blast of air knocks him backwards as a blue and white C-Sec cruiser speeds by, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

“Was that—?” Akihiro starts, and Haiji grabs him by the elbow, pulling him back into the streets.

“I think I saw some bikes nearby, come on!”

There is, as it turns out, only one bike, but Akihiro is more than happy to let Haiji chase after his stolen car and the cops. He can see the _Aotake_ some other day.

Haiji probably hadn’t felt the wind in his hair like this since his training days. He doesn’t really care about the car, it’s a rental anyways, but this chase is the most exciting thing that’s happened to him in a long time.

Well, the _second_ most exciting. He’d nearly had a heart attack when Captain Tazaki handed the _Aotake_ over to him and said _“go, figure this out”_

The lights of the C-Sec cruiser are a beacon amongst the visual noise of the civilian traffic and the glow of the ward beneath them. When he gets close enough he can see that the cars are exchanging fire. The thief must be desperate, or stupid, swerving violently in an attempt to knock the cruiser away.

Haiji is about to try and aim a warp field at the engine to slow the car down, when the passenger door of the cruiser opens.

The C-Sec officer, wearing some sort of modified hardsuit, pulls himself up on the roof of the cruiser and flares bright blue, jumping to the other car with his biotics. Energy builds up on his fist and he punches through the windshield, pulling out the thief by the collar, and the car slows to a halt.

Haiji is so awestruck by the display he just witnessed that he barely stops himself from rear-ending the cruiser.

The other officer, the one that _didn’t_ just jump on a car moving at 200 mph a half-mile above the ward and break a windshield like it was nothing, sticks his head out the window and starts shouting at his partner.

Haiji follows them back to the C-Sec office and gives a statement, sends an email to Akihiro telling him what happened, and heads to the elevator.

The rental company would cover the damages to the car, he wasn’t responsible for anything, but Haiji knew that the amount of damage caused by that officer was probably extremely unnecessary.

The elevator doors chime open, and Haiji finds himself face to face with that very same officer, holding a duffle bag instead of a car thief. He hadn’t been close enough to see his face, but he recognizes the hardsuit. The legs are reinforced with a material Haiji has never seen before.

“You’re the one that stopped that car thief, right?” Haiji asks, and the man nods stiffly. “I’ve never seen biotics like that from a human, did you train with the asari?”

The man shifts uncomfortably. “No, I’m… I’m an L2.”

“You’re an _L2?!_ ” Haiji moves closer in excitement, grabbing the man’s shoulders. “I haven’t met another L2 in a long time, what are you doing working for C-Sec? You should be in special forces with power like that—”

“I’m not,” he interrupts. “I’m not working for C-Sec anymore.”

“But you just—”

“They fired me, okay? Too much collateral damage, and I don’t need some Alliance _asswipe_ telling me what to do with my life.” He shoves out of Haiji’s grip.

“What if I said I had a job for you?” Haiji asks seriously, trying to compose himself. “I’m putting together a team, and I could use someone like you. Collateral damage won’t be an issue.”

The man gives him a searching look, but doesn’t respond. Haiji tries again.

“Look, what’s your name? I’m Kiyose, Kiyose Haiji, Lieutenant Commander, N5.”

“... Kurahara Kakeru,” the man grumbles.

“Kurahara, why don’t you come down to the docks with me and look at my ship? Meet my team, see if you like them. We’ve got plenty of space for you, and I know you don’t have any plans now that you’re freshly unemployed.”

Kurahara nods stiffly, and Haiji claps him on the back.

“I see you’ve picked up a stray.” Akihiro watches Kurahara marvel at the _Aotake_ , in all its dilapidated glory, and Haiji just smiles.

“He’s an L2 like me, but I’ve never seen anyone with biotics as powerful as his. Maybe not even some asari I’ve met.”

“Can you trust him?” Akihiro flicks the ash from his cigarette and takes a long pull. “You just met him a few hours ago.”

“I don’t really have a choice,” Haiji says, leaning heavily against the railing, taking the weight off his leg. “I need as many people as I can, as fast as I can get them.”

“Your funeral,” Akihiro sighs, and then shouts at Kurahara, “Hey kid! Wanna go inside?” He nods vigorously, and Akihiro puts out his cigarette on the railing.

Haiji gives them a tour of the _Aotake_ , but there isn’t much to show. The ship is old, cramped, and just barely staying together with sheer will and duct tape.

“They haven’t made ships with these drive cores since the 60s! How am I supposed to keep this thing running by myself?” Akihiro aims a kick at the control panel, and to illustrate his point, a piece helpfully falls off and clatters loudly into the engine below them. He fixes Haiji with a glare.

“I’ll find you another engineer, okay?”

“A _ship_ engineer, not a _combat_ engineer. I need someone who can help me fix things, not make them explode.” He jabs Haiji in the chest for emphasis and stalks out of the engine room.

Kurahara is quiet, taking in the ancient machinery.

“What do you think?” Haiji asks. “I can’t guarantee that it will be comfortable, and I can’t guarantee that what we’re doing is going to be easy, but I do know that you’d be worth more here than stuck in C-Sec chasing purse-snatchers.”

“I’ll do it. Commander.” His arm jerks upward, as though he was going to salute, but adjusts the strap of his duffle bag instead. Haiji restrains himself from hugging Kurahara in his excitement.

“Great! Welcome aboard. The plan is to leave in five days, so pack your things and meet us here at 0600 hours.”

Kurahara shakes his duffle bag and says, “This is everything I own.”

Looking closer, Haiji realizes the bag is barely filled.

“Th-that’s all of it?”

“I was sleeping in the C-Sec barracks but… I don’t work there anymore.” Kurahara looks uncomfortable, like he’d eaten something foul. Or like he was confronting the reality of his own homelessness.

“You can stay on the ship. I’ll be here most of the time, and if you need anything, just ask. If you want to write up a shopping list, well, I’ve got a big stipend and nothing to spend it on.”

Kurahara nods gratefully, and Haiji takes him upstairs to the bunkroom.


End file.
